London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Much chatter about Bell Pottinger chief executive James Henderson’s decision to take out a four-page press advert to celebrate the public relations firm’s first anniversary since it went private in a management buyout.

It is unusual for any corporate PR firm to advertise itself in the mainstream media as most prefer to keep a low profile. Indeed, most PR agencies don’t believe in advertising precisely because it means using paid-for media, rather than earning a reputation through PR. But what was most notable about Bell Pottinger’s boast in its ad about being “the second biggest independent public relations company in the UK” was that it name-checked 17 other rivals which “we are already bigger than”. However, the PR agencies that might have been smarting were those like Tulchan and FTI that are smaller but were not named in the ad. It is clear from the ad that Bell Pottinger feels it needs to send out a confident message, following its sale by Chime Communications last year.

* Will former Harper Collins publishing boss Victoria Barnsley follow other recently-departed ex-Murdoch executives James Harding and Tom Mockridge in going to work for the opposition? Ex-Times editor Harding has gone to run BBC News while former News International boss Mockridge is now heading Virgin Media. Barnsley, who abruptly left Rupert Murdoch’s book publishing house last week, is going on an extended period of gardening leave. But during a dignified leaving speech she gave at the HarperCollins summer party, she gave the impression that she is no mood to retire. Barnsley, 59, recalled her entrepreneurial roots in setting up independent imprint Fourth Estate 29 years ago, before a 13-year spell as UK and international chief exeuctive at HarperCollins, and she joked that the question everyone was asking her is: “Fifth Estate, perchance?”

* An end to the stand-off between between the independent directors of The Times and proprietor Rupert Murdoch over the appointment of the editors of The Times and Sunday Times is said to be in sight but the Sunday paper’s business section still took a chance with a story last weekend. In a round-up of past sex scandals at the Bank of England, it said “nothing tops” how Rupert Pennant-Rea, once number two in the Bank, got frisky in the Governor’s dressing-room. Pennant-Rea is now an independent director of The Times.

Thirty years ago, there was the war of the breakfast TV shows between TV-AM and the BBC. Now the old faces from that time, including Sir David Frost who fronted TV-AM and Nick Ross for BBC Breakfast are getting together again for a Royal Television Society debate next Monday, entitled the “Battle for Breakfast”. Perhaps appropriately given their ages, the veteran panellists are meeting for a “Legends Lunch”. Guests are welcome. Find out more at RTS.org.uk.

A row has broken out between the world’s two biggest advertising groups, WPP and Omnicom, as both * reckon they won the most awards in the Media category at last month’s Cannes Lions festival. The dispute centres on how some agencies have retrospectively claimed credit for awards, even though, in the words of the festival organisers, “they may not have been the entrant company but would have been named in the secondary credits”. This follows a row over alleged bias on an awards jury last year. Top Right Group, the organisers, are now “reviewing the credit amendment policy”. Some believe there are now far too many awards handed out at Cannes but it’s no wonder when the entry fees mean Top Right makes a fortune.